Xtra Time Web Desk: India and Bengal cricketer Manoj Tiwary followed the footsteps of Laxmi Ratan Shukla. Tiwary has decided to join Trinamool Congress like his former Bengal teammate. He attended West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s rally in Chinsurah, Hooghly on Wednesday, February 24,2021. Along with Tiwary, some members of the Congress, BJP and other “eminent personalities” are also expected to join the the rally.
Mamata’s rally was held in the same ground where Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public meeting on 22 February and is seen as a counter gathering.
35-year-old Manoj, who has represented the Indian cricket team in the one-day international (ODI) and T20 formats has decided to join politics after realizing it is realistically going to be tough to play competitive cricket due to injury to his knee. It was the same reason he decided to stay away from the on -going Vijay Hazare Trophy. The ace batsman has been a prolific run scorer in domestic cricket and has represented franchises like Kolkata Knight Riders, Rising Pune Supergiants and Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League. But over the last couple of seasons Tiwary has not found favour with the franchises. It might also be a reason for him to join politics.
TMC approached Tiwary about four weeks ago as they saw him as a suitable “celebrity” replacement to cricketer Laxmi Ratan Shukla.
After meetings with Prashant Kishor’s Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), which is handling the TMC’s campaign for the upcoming West Bengal assembly elections, Tiwary met Mamata Banerjee herself to seal the deal.
Tiwary’s joining will be latest in a slew of celebrity joining and defections in both the incumbent Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ahead of the Bengal polls scheduled for April-May.